Under Coalition plans, “day to day spending on public services… (will be at) It’s smallest share of national income since 1948”. George Osborne’s 2013 Autumn Statement on spending plans for the UK government consisted of 7,025 words and took 50 minutes to read – but could have been summed up by that one line in the report of the government’s fiscal watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility.

On arrival in government, the Conservative section of the Coalition government were keen to present austerity as temporary, necessary and purely practical. Back in 2010, Cameron claimed that he “didn’t come into politics to make cuts”, and that austerity was simply temporary spending restraint based on a necessary effort to cut the deficit, not “some ideological zeal”.

In 2013, ‘Austerity’ is delivering the half century long ambition of the Conservative party: to revoke…

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This is why the #WCA is not working & nor will those who this scheme is supposed to help!
This company and others like ATOS & Capita are operating all over the world & are ruining lives in every country they get lucrative contracts in.

Please read what JohnnyVoid has written on his blog. It’s very enlightening!

A damning documentary exposing the shoddy behaviour of Maximus and the welfare-to-work sector in Australia could lead to a drop in the company’s share price according to one stockmarlet analyst.

The programme, produced by ABC (and still viewable here), tells a story which will be familiar to all those in the UK forced to attend outsourced schemes such as Iain Duncan Smith’s Work Programme. Claimants had their benefits stopped for no reason, signatures on paperwork were faked and the most marginalised claimants were parked – meaning abandoned completely by the companies who saw no profit in helping them. Maximus dominate the welfare-to-work sector in Australia, and have several contracts running similar schemes in the UK.

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ROAST DINNER’S AND ETHERIDGE GRAVY SAYS STAR

My next quest to find out more about the people in UKIP took me to Dudley, West Midlands where Black Country born and bred Bill Etheridge lives with his wife Star. I found out that despite a few near misses the couple finally met and then married in 2007.

Life’ has not been all plain sailing for the couple but have managed to build a strong foundation for their marriage,

The obvious question to ask Star was how did they meet?

“We met (after a few weeks of texting, phone calls & e-mails) on 28th Febuary 2007. We Married on 29th December (civil marriage) & had our BIG day 21st March 2008 (Good Friday) with a Humanist Celebrant. So been a mega whirlwind from then to now.”

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This is in the Top 4 items of the Lisbon Treaty At A Glance document on the Europa Website (link below). Is this what anyone in the UK voted for? Anyway enough with the prelude, what does this really mean for any of us?

It gives the EU itself the power to negotiate, implement trade agreements and treaties with other countries. Many people may have heard about the TTIP (Trans Atlantic Trade & Investment Partnership) well you have no say over this now. As of 1st December 2014 the EU has the legal right under the Lisbon Treaty to negotiate investment & trade on behalf of the EU states without any permissions from any state.

The EU basically becomes a Limited Company & thus has all the rights, obligations, freedom to contract with anyone anywhere because it is a Legal Personality. So they can decide who to contract with, what for, how long & at what cost.

Questions arise from this include;

1) will the EU make contractual arrangements that are in the best interests of the people in the member states?

2) will they always ensure fair trading & allow tenders from around the world for any items/services they wish to procure?

3) how many new employees will the EU need to employ in order to facilitate this single trading arm?

4) will the EU be bound to purchase the best product at the best price?

5) who will monitor the EU procurement to ensure it is getting the best deal for the people of the EU?

This brings about for all intents & purposes EU PLC – it can do anything any other company can do. Some of us may not like what they do, do we have a right to challenge any contract?

Sort of is the answer, if 1million people throughout the EU get together to force a debate on any policy, trade agreement etc then they might get heard!!!

So basically this Treaty has signed away much of our rights to organise any free trade or other trade with any country.

The EU is now the all powerful behemoth which has now taken over our countries. “the EU is therefore able to speak and take action as a single entity”!

We have no way of changing this, we cannot veto anything. Our only choice now is to invoke article 50 and get out.

The EU is not run on the lines of a commercial entity. It hasn’t had its accounts audited & signed off for 19 years. So the EU PLC would have been shut down!

So folks we are essentially a small part of a company; our shares do not give us enough voting rights, will not allow us to rescind any contract negotiated by the EU, even if it is a bad deal for the UK.

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UKIP: Introduce an Australian-style points policy, used to select migrants with the skills and attributes needed to work in the country – covering people from inside and outside the EU. Bring net immigration down to 50,000 people a year. Priority lanes for UK passport holders. Increase UK border staff by 2,500. Tougher English language tests for migrants seeking permanent residence. Opt out of the Dublin treaty to allow the UK to return asylum seekers to other EU countries without considering their claim.

Tax & Economy

UKIP: Increase the personal allowance to the level of full-time minimum wage earnings, about £13,500, by 2020. Abolish inheritance tax. Introduce a 35% income tax rate between £42,285 and £55,000, at which point the 40% rate becomes payable. Set up a Treasury Commission to design a turnover tax on large businesses. Cut foreign aid budget by £9bn a year. Scrap HS2. Save £8bn a year in membership fees by leaving the EU.

NHS

UKIP: Ensure all migrants and visitors have NHS approved medical insurance as a condition of entry to UK, with £200m of the £2bn saved to be spent on ending hospital parking charges in England. Tougher regulation of NHS managers. Bring back state-enrolled nurses and return powers to matrons. Monitor and Care Quality Commission to be replaced with county health boards. Stop spending £90m a year on gastric band and breast enhancement operations.

Defence

UKIP: Leave the European Union. Remove the passports of any person who has gone to fight for a terrorist organisation and deport anyone who has committed a terrorist act. Cut foreign aid budget by £9bn. Create a Veterans Department to look after the interests of ex-service men and women.

Jobs

UKIP: Allow firms to offer jobs to British workers first “without the fear of being sued for discrimination”.

Education

UKIP: More grammar schools. Scrap sex education for children aged under seven. Scrap tuition fees for students from poorer backgrounds who take degree courses in the sciences, technology, maths or engineering. Greater emphasis on vocational education with new Apprenticeship Qualification Option. School governing boards must be made up of at least 30% parents of children at the school. Allow universities to charge same amount for EU students as non-EU students.

Housing

UKIP: Protect greenbelt land by incentivising the building of affordable homes on brownfield sites. Establish a UK Brownfield Agency to hand out grants, tax breaks and low interest loans. Major planning decisions to be ratified by local referendum.

Law & Order

UKIP: Repeal Human Rights Act and replace it with UK Bill of Rights. Withdraw from European arrest warrant. No votes for prisoners. Those responsible for criminal damage forced to carry out unpaid work in area where it was committed. Those jailed for offences affecting their community should be banned from returning to live in the area, as a condition of their release. “Complete overhaul” of police taking into account “best practice from other countries”.

Benefits & Poverty

UKIP: Only pay child benefit for the first two children for new claimants. Increase the Carers’ Allowance to the same level as Jobseekers’ Allowance (JSA) and pay a higher rate of JSA if you’ve been in work and already made tax and National Insurance contributions. Prevent anyone taking up permanent residence in Britain unless they’re able to support themselves and any dependents they bring with them for at least five years and stop them receiving benefits. Stop paying child benefit for children who don’t live in Britain. Scrap what UKIP calls the “detested bedroom tax”. Boost “credit unions”.

This week I have been appalled at the behaviour of someone who really hates UKIP to such an extent she said I’m a “token” used to make UKIP look good. I have a screen shot of the tweet so please read on & read the tweet.

If I am as she says then If she wants my chronic illness & mobility issues with the pain too then she can have them.

I’d give anything to be rid of this I have much I want to do but due to my chronic disease & disability I can’t.

On good days my brain is pushing me but my body refuses to do what I want.

I quite honestly hate being in this body. I have a career to resume because I worked so hard to get qualified as a Solicitor, I also have the qualification & experience of teaching in colleges & Universities. I have given my all to achieve what I have. I also had my children to care for whilst working & studying. I was determined to have a well paid job so I could be a role model for my kids & to provide for them.

I was doing well until this vile illness took over. Now I’m living on medication. I work from my bed dealing with all the questions re UKIP Disability Policies & also doing my best for the people of Coseley. Thankfully technology allows me to undertake the vast majority of my duties from my bed.

If anyone wants to swap I’d jump at the chance. Sadly it’s not possible. I have had to go from being a very energetic independent person to being almost as reliant as a toddler!

Then after working all of my life I had to experience the benefits system! What a bloody shock that was! I had no idea what to do, no help or advice, given the runaround, indignity of ATOS in 2008 but then in 2010 the changes came in & things were made even more confusing, upsetting, being told you’re ill but you’re well enough to look for work or to get training!

What training could I possibly get to make me useful to an employer? I have all the qualifications, I have vast experience, I simply do not have any chance of getting a job because I would be so unreliable plus being medicated so I would never be able to get there before 1pm & due to my pernicious illness I’d only manage 3hrs at the most.

It makes me angry because there are millions in the same position. A person is either well or they’re not well enough to work there isn’t a middle ground. That’s a complete waste of time and money in assessing many people when a call to their GP would give verification of their true state of health!

Also the middle ground of outcomes (Fit for work, Work Related Activity Group & Support Group) of the assessment penalises those who have worked all their lives! That is wrong & is totally used to reduce the costs. The expected cost reduction is not real because of the appeals, the back pay, the tribunal costs, the staffing costs to process it all etc etc!

Time for a rethink & to put in a system which does weed out the scammers but equally does not vilify, belittle, cause undue stress to any person who has the misfortune to be disabled/sick either from birth or later in life!

Rant over but this is why I do what I do. It gives me a sense of purpose & use. It’s not what I’d have chosen but as the saying goes when life brings your lemons then you make lemonade.